What a Day - Author: Kasper

[g]This was from the Booth Express challenge from way back when, ie last August. I started it but only got around to finishing it ten minutes ago. So... enjoy.[/g]

October 13. He hated the day. His birthday. To him it signified another year gone, another year past without making an impact. It meant another year putting murderers of the worst kind behind bars, yet still finding more, committing the most vicious crimes imaginable. It meant another year gone without seeing much of his pride and joy Parker. It also meant another year sleeping alone in his bed curled up next to a cool pillow. His birthday should have been a happy day, a day to spend with a beautiful wife and children together. Instead in college and even in the Army he’d hang out with a few buddies, share some beers and sleep off a wicked hangover. Nowadays he simply spends it alone with a beer reflecting on another year gone. And this time it wasn’t even better. For October 13th was a Friday.

On the morning of his thirty-fifth birthday he awoke late. His alarm clock didn’t go off and he awoke at eight o’clock, the precise time a very important meeting with Cullen was supposed to begin. He nearly jumped out of bed and quickly threw a random suit on. He would realize later that he picked the white shirt with a large coffee stair on the front, the suit jacket that was just a bit too small for him and the tie that had a pasta sauce stain on it. He didn’t have time to gel his hair to its normal state of perfection, or time to shave, or time to grab his normal cup of coffee. He grabbed his keys, phone, and gun and ran out the door.

The traffic was a mess on the way to the Hoover Building. He resorted to taking a bunch of back roads and still made it to the building before eight thirty (he decided to ignore the few traffic laws he broke in the process). He dashed up the stairs nearly knocking over the old janitor in the process. He burst into the conference room and took his place, earning stares from everyone in the room. Cullen looked especially angry and after giving Booth the once over he looked even angrier if such a thing was possible. Booth looked down and realized his fashion faux pas. He covered what he could of the stains and slunk lower into the chair with his head resting in his hands.

An hour later a hungry, anxious, and nervous Booth emerged from the room. Before he even made an attempt for his office Cullen nearly dragging him down the hall to an empty office where tore Booth a new one. Another twenty minutes an extremely aggravated and caffeine free Booth made his way to his office. He stopped for some of the black sludge the FBI called coffee, but couldn’t bring himself to drink it.

He decided to take his lunch break early in a move to procrastinate conquering the mound of paperwork Cullen had left him with. He stepped outside and a shiver ran through his body as he stepped out in the cool autumn. The wind was blowing and ominous dark clouds hung above the city threatening to spill its content at any given time. He jogged to the local coffee shop and got some of the real coffee and a donut to accompany it. On the way back it happened. The rain started in a few drops that hit the pavement but soon escalated into a downpour. Others ran for shelter but he stood under the rain fuming. He shook his head and returned to the building soaked to the bone. He preferred not to catch pneumonia by sitting in wet clothes for the rest of the afternoon so he headed to his car for his spare outfit.

As he unlocked the car he rummaged through the back of the SUV for his spare suit for cursing and punching the side of the car. This accomplished nothing because all he got out of it was a cut, bloody hand. He remembered that he had used his backup suit the week before when he and Brennan had been called on a case after Booth had dropped of Parker, which means that the only thing dry was…

Booth walked down back up to his office wearing his clothes from his outing with Parker that consisted of jeans and a Power Rangers t-shirt that Parker had nearly begged him to wear. Booth had to endure the calls of his fellow immature agents asking him if it was his favorite show and if he was in love with the Pink Ranger. He ignored their comments and slammed the door to his office shut.

He spent the rest of the afternoon going through the ever-growing perpetual pile of paperwork sitting on his desk. He signed his name so many times that there would be no way to forget it ever. He finally quit at five o’clock after four and a half straight hours of paperwork. His back, butt, and legs were screaming at him for sitting so long in one position. He stood up and stretched before packing up his things for the weekend. Through the whole time not one person called or stopped by to wish him a happy birthday, at least Parker would call him during the work day. Slightly disappointed her trudged to his car and headed for the Jeffersonian in hopes of at least maybe talking to Brennan. Upon getting in view of Brennan’s office he noticed the light was off, but through the light from her computer he could see that her head was down on the desk. With a sigh he decided to wake her and went in search of the other Squints. He searched for ten minutes and turned up Squint-less.

Now thoroughly disappointed he headed home, stopping at the liquor store for a six-pack on the way. He made his way to his door when he noticed that a light was on inside. I always make sure I turn all lights of before leaving, he thought to himself. Suddenly the light was turned off and he saw a shadow dash and head towards the door. He placed his bag on the ground and drew his gun. Not even bothering with the keys he slammed his shoulder into the door and burst inside his dark home. Suddenly he felt someone grab him from behind. Not even thinking he reacted, grabbing the person and throwing them to the ground. The person reversed it and now was on top. It was dark and he could only see the person’s silhouette. The person smacked his right hand on the ground and he released the gun.

“Booth you idiot, it’s me!” shouted Brennan. Someone flicked on the lights and there were halfhearted shouts of “Surprise!” Booth couldn’t help but smile as he looked around the room. He eyed the Squints and Parker. They all had smiles on their faces and Booth looked up and realized why.

Brennan was straddling his chest and holding his hands to the ground. Normally Angela would have said something inappropriate but spared it for the sake of Parker. Booth leaned up with a smirk on his face. “Bones you can stop straddling me.” Immediately she jumped up and Booth quickly got to his feet. He whispered for good measure, “Don’t start anything you can’t finish.” Parker ran forward and grabbed his father by the legs.

“Daddy! Mommy let me come and sleep over tonight. Tempe picked me up from school, got me McDonald’s and helped me pick out a birthday present for you!”

Booth looked sideways at Brennan who was looking at the floor. “Bones, you did this for me?” She nodded. “Thanks Bones.”

Parker slid back to the floor and ran off to the TV where Booth heard cartoons. “Heads up Booth.” Hodgins tossed Booth a beer that he caught one handed.

“Boy I’m starving. What’s for dinner?” At the precise moment a pizza deliveryman appeared at the doorway with his arms laden with pizza boxes and bagged items. The door was still open from Booth’s earlier charge.

“Um hello?” the delivery guy said.

Angela and Zach moved forward to get the food while Hodgins paid. “Wow I knew Squints were good for something,” added Booth.

After a dinner of pizza, garlic knots, and wings, everyone but Brennan retired to the living room. She stayed behind and started to clean up. Shouts were audible from the living room where everyone was obviously playing a game. She was in the process of resetting the table in preparation for the cake when she heard someone clear their throat. She turned around with the large knife in her hand.

“Whoa Bones, I know we have our differences, but that is no excuse for violence.” She rolled her eyes and placed the knife down next to the matches. She leaned on the table and crossed her arms.

“What do you want Booth?” He turned the fridge and removed two cold beers, opened them, and handed one to Brennan.

“Nothing,” he replied. “So I would like to thank you for this whole thing. I was beginning to think that everyone forgot…”

“Well if we told you about it, then it wouldn’t have been a surprise.”

He smiled and sipped the rest of the beer from the bottle. He approached Brennan and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for everything Temperance. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

“Hey guys, we gonna cut the cake soon?” asked a slightly slurring Hodgins.

“One second Hodgins.” Hodgins turned on one foot, somehow not falling over, leaving Booth and Brennan alone once more.

“It was nothing,” replied Brennan, though it came out as a whisper. She smiled to hide her embarrassment and increased heart rate. Booth decided to spare her from more embarrassment and helped her carry the cake to the living room. The group sang happy birthday and cake was eaten. Booth opened his presents, receiving a new tie from Cam, Battle of the Sexes from Angela, a bottle of Scotch from Hodgins, and from Parker, a game for the Xbox.

“But I don’t have the Xbox buddy,” said a very confused Booth upon opening the game.

“It’s okay, you can come to my friend Ricky’s house and play it. He’s got the Xbox and he has the fun games. And his mommy is really pretty and his daddy runned away a long time ago.”

Everyone laughed and Booth looked away, slightly embarrassed. When the laughter died down, Booth looked towards Brennan, making the assumption that she had a gift for him. She smiled and said quietly, “I’ll give it to you later.” Booth gulped sharply and two years worth of fantasies that he spent many hours concocting then suppressing appeared in front of his eyes. He regained composure knowing that he was out of line.

Angela looked at Hodgins and Zach who looked intoxicated and exhausted. “I’m going to bring the boys home.” She gave Booth a kiss on the cheek and wished him a happy birthday once more before heading out with the boys in tow. Cam bade her last wishes before also heading out behind them. This left only Brennan, Parker, and Booth. Well Brennan and Booth really because Parker had fallen asleep on the couch sometime after the present opening. Booth carried his son to his bed and changed him into pajama pants before tucking him in. He kissed him on the forehead and gave his hair a quick ruffle before returning to the living room.

Brennan sat on the couch after already cleaning up the wrapping paper mess. “Your present is in the car. I’ll go get it.”

“I’ll come with you,” he said grabbing both their jackets. “Parker will be fine for a few.” They headed outside in the crisp October air. The skies had cleared revealing quite a few stars despite the light pollution from the nearby city. Brennan unlocked her trunk revealing a box wrapped in little snowmen figures.

“I needed to wrap it at the last second and this is all Angela had left.”

“It’s okay Bones.” He picked up the box, which was not very light, and shut the trunk. “All set?”

“Hold on.” She scurried to the passenger side door and grabbed something from the front seat and tucked it into the pocket of her jacket. The car beeped again, letting her know that it was locked.

Back upstairs Booth placed the box on the floor and starred at it, pondering what it could be.

“Well are you going to spend the night looking at it or are you going to open it?” she asked with a laugh.

“Oh yeah.” He knelt next to the box and tore off the snowman covering to reveal an new Xbox system.”

“Wow Bones, I’m speechless.” He smiled as he turned the box around in his hands.

“Well I’m not going to lie, but I got that as a gift from my publisher. I had no use for it so I figured that I would give it to you. At least I knew Parker would appreciate it.” He held out his arm and gestured for her to come over. She hesitated momentarily before taking a seat next to him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “You just made me the coolest father in the world.”

“You’re welcome Booth.” Booth released her and she moved over some, but maintained the close space. She handed him a picture that he looked at intently. “I know this isn’t much, but I wanted you to have that. It’s from the picnic we had at the end of the summer. Angela took the picture as you watched Parker play baseball. I saw the look on your face, the love and the care that you put on the surface. You are a very loving man that has deserved everything he has gotten today, well at least this party. Have fun with your son tomorrow Booth. Good night.” She stood to walk out but Booth reached for her hand. She held his gaze for a moment before he let go and she shut the door.

Booth looked down at the picture and smiled. He remembered the moment exactly. Brennan had only been half right; she was standing next to Parker, making sure that he didn’t spill ice cream on his shirt. Booth had looked on at the two people that meant the most to him in the world. As he stood to put the picture away for safe keeping, he promised himself to tell her one day, what he was really looking at.

Okay, so...I know that you posted this on the other aby, but seriously...did I not read it??? I can't imagine that I didn't...but there is no post from me...it's a mystery. Unless they didn't copy the posts...*shrugs* But it was very cute, and made me laugh. And I'm bored...as if you can't tell, since I'm looking back over fanfiction from a year ago...lol

That was a really sweet story - but poor Booth's birthday was a mess before he got his birthday party revealed!!

This was a very heart warming story, I just loved it.